An electrical grid is an interconnected network for delivering electricity from suppliers to consumers. More specifically, the electrical grid is a vast, interconnected network of transmission lines, starting from a supplier of electricity to a consumer of the electricity. The consumer may be, for example, a personal consumer or an industrial consumer.
It has become increasingly important to manage the electrical grid, in order to more efficiently distribute electricity in an environmentally friendly manner. For example, the electrical grid has started to be connected to low or zero emission sources such as, e.g., windmills, hydropower plants and solar panels. In another example, electricity suppliers are providing discounted fees for off-peak electricity consumption, e.g., providing cost incentives to consumers for those using their appliances during off-peak times.
Also, it has become more vital to manage the electrical grid to distribute electricity in a more efficient manner. Electricity suppliers must often monitor their electrical grids for downed power lines to prevent such problems from disrupting electricity supply throughout the grids. For example, natural disasters or incidents, such as a tree falling on a power distribution line, may generate transient or sustained electrical faults in the electrical grid, thus causing temporary local or wide-area power outages. In order to provide reliable power, electricity suppliers must be able to detect such electrical faults.
However, electricity suppliers are often not provided with enough information regarding the electrical grid to effectively monitor the grid during power outages, peak demand times, etc. For example, to monitor the electrical grid, the electricity suppliers may depend on data sensed from devices of field crews deployed to portions of the electrical grid. However, if for those portions where the field crews are not deployed to and gathering data, the electricity suppliers may have to estimate a state of the electrical grid instead of accurately measuring the state of the electrical grid. In addition, the electrical suppliers are currently constrained by the limited number of parameters being monitored on the electrical grid due to, e.g., safety constraints for the field crews.